Continuing our tour of the marvelous homes of our friends in Gainesville, we moved into house number five on Friday (March 25th). Along with a spacious beautiful house in an attractive two-lot yard only 12 blocks north of the University of Florida campus, we had the pleasure of looking after Luna, a lovely and loving young dog. With Susan joining Jeff in Arizona on the "maiden-voyage" of their new camper, we were more than happy to help them out by dog- and house-sitting.

Another keen birder, Susan has arranged bird-feeders in a butterfly/humming bird garden in the yard, in clear view of her office and a table where we had set-up our laptops. A pair of binoculars on the table made for the laziest bird-watching, especially when ruby-throated humming birds came to the feeder that is right next to the window. The well-established neighborhood has a magnificent tree canopy and was a beautiful area in which to enjoy Randall's 50-minute power-walks.

Just over nine weeks post-surgery, Randall met with his cardiologist, Dr. Green. He was very happy with Randall's progress and condition. We had long and interesting discussions about how diet and medications needed to keep Randall's LDL (bad) blood cholesterol levels, at least, below 70 or, ideally, below 50 mg/dL. Dr. Green considered that an emphasis on a plant-based diet was important along with minimally processed food; the concern being that the latter may be related to increased inflammation.

Frustratingly, his office had not been sent the results of a recent blood-test, as requested, so our discussions were made on the assumption that Randall's cholesterol was above the desired levels. When the results finally arrived, Randall was very pleased to find that his LDL levels were 52 mg/dL so very close to the ideal values for people with coronary artery disease. He has to keep taking the low-dose of statin drugs for now but he may be able to stop them if a careful diet is enough to keep his LDL levels low. Only about a third of the population have blood levels of LDL that respond to dietary cholesterol and we do not know if Randall is in that group. He did not have high blood cholesterol levels a few years ago but there is a family history of it, so we shall have to wait and see what the long-term treatment plan will be. Still, it was good to have such detailed discussions with the cardiologist and Randall felt much encouraged by it all.